Set-off skid for railway vehicles



April 28, 1942. N, us'rls 2,281,066 SET-OFF SKID FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES Filed Nov. 29, 1940 W DJ Patented Apr. 28, 1942 SET-OFF SKID FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES Irving N. Eustis, Fairmont, Minn., assignor to Fairmont Railway Motors,

Inc., Fairmont,

Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Application November 29, 1940, Serial No. 367,711

'7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in setoff skids for railway vehicles and it consists of the matters hereinafter described and more par ticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the use of certain railway vehicles, such as motor cars, section cars and the like, it is often necessary to remove the same from the rails of a railway track and then later to replace them upon said rails. In removing such a vehicle from the track, the vehicle is first turned into a position crosswise of and straddling one of the rails of the track with the wheels at an end of the vehicle, outside of said rail and with the wheels at the other end of the vehicle inside of said rail.

When the vehicle has longitudinal skid bars, andis disposed in this position, said bars then engage the top surface of the head or ball of the rail and the vehicle is then skidded on said bars laterally across said rail toward the outside of said rail. When the vehicle is skidded across the rail through and beyond a balanced position thereon, that end of the vehicle outwardly of the rail is lowered. This leaves the wheels inside the rail in a somewhat elevated position. Thereafter the associated end of the vehicle is manually lifted over the rail to clear the same, before the vehicle can be rolled on its wheels laterally of the track to provide the necessary clearance for passing trains. As railway vehicles of this kind are relatively heavy, it is quite a laborious task and often takes considerable time to remove the vehicle from the track even though it may have skid bars.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a set-off skid construction for railway vehicles whereby the vehicle may be more quickly and easily removed, and first, laterally from a railway track.

Another object of the invention is to provide a set-off construction of this kind which imparts a raising or lifting action to that end of the car inside the rail of a railway track, as the wheels thereon approach said rail in th removal of the vehicle from said track, so that said Wheels may be caused easily to pass over said rail.

A further object of the invention is to provide a set-ofi skid construction for railway vehicles which is safe and practical in use and is so disposed with respect to the flanges of the wheels of the vehicle that said wheels prevent or guard the skids from catching any obstruction which might otherwise cause a derailment of the vehicle as it proceeds along the track.

Again, it is a further object of the invention to provide a set-off skid construction which is simple and inexpensive and which is strong and rigid to ive a long period of use without requiring attention or servicing.

The above mentioned objects of the invention, as well as others together with the advantages thereof, will more fully appear as th specification proceeds.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the running gear of a railway motor car embodying the preferred form of the invention, when in running position upon the rails of a railway track.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the running gear of the vehicle appearing in Fig. 1 when said vehicle is disposed transversely of the track and in balanced position upon one of the rails of a railway track.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 with the vehicle in a different position with respect to the rail over which it is being skidded in the removal of the vehicle laterally outward from the said rail.

Fig. 4; is a detail vertical sectional view through a part of the vehicle as taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view, on an enlarged scale, with respect to the other illustrations, of a skid shoe embodied in the improved set-off skid construction and which will be more fully referred to later.

Referring now in detail to that embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing, H) indicates as a whole the running gear of a railway vehicle such as a railway motor car adapted for travel upon the rails ll of a railway track.

Running gear Ill includes side sills l2 and depending therefrom toward the ends are bearing boxes l3 for the front and rear axles l4 and I5 of the vehicle and one of which constitutes the driving axle of the vehicle. Operatively secured to said axles outside the side sills are pairs of front and rear flanged wheels [6 and I! respectively for a running engagement or travel upon the head or ball I 8 of the rails i I.

I9 indicates one of the longitudinally extending, horizontally disposed skid bars of the vehicle, disposed below and in the vertical plane of the associated side sill l2. Preferably each skid bar is made from a length of channel iron, with its web 20 disposed in a vertical plane and with its top and bottom flanges 2! and 22 (see Fig. 4) extending horizontally inward toward the center of the vehicle. The end portions of the top flange 2| of each bar l9 engage against and are secured to the bottom edges of the bearing boxes l3 on the same side of the vehicle. As appears in Figs, 1, 2 and 3 of the drawing, the bottom. surface of the bottom flange 22 of the skid bars is disposed in a plane below that of the plane passing through the axles l4 and I5.

23 indicates oppositely facing brake shoes disposed along each side of the vehicle for braking engagement with opposed faces of the rims of the wheels l6 and I! on the said side of the Vehicle, in about the horizontal plane of the axles l4 and I5. Said shoes are suspended by links 24 which are pivoted at the top end on studs 25 projecting laterally from the associated side sill and are pivoted to said shoes as by the pins 26. Pivotally connected to each shoe by means of the associated pin 28, is the outer end of an actuator rod 21. The inner end of each rod 21 is connected by a link 28 to an actuator arm or lever 29 that is fixed to the outer end of a transverse rock shaft 30 journ'alled on suitable bearings suspended from the side sills. When the arm 29 swings in one direction, the shoes 23 are pressed against the rims of the associated wheels with a braking action. When said arm is swung in the other direction, the shoes are withdrawn from braking action against the rims of said wheels.

It is apparent that the bottom skid surface of each skid bar I 9 is disposed in a plane or position above the lowest point on the flanges of the wheels iii and I1. This distance represents the height that one end of the vehicle must be elevated, so that the wheel flange may pass over the rail in removing the vehicle laterally from the track and replacing or resetting the vehicle upon the rails. To make it easier in removing the vehicle from and in replacing it upon the track, I F

provide the following:

A skid shoe 3! is associated with each wheel and is disposed substantially in the plane of the flange thereof and longitudinally inward from each wheel toward the transverse center of the vehicle. The shoes for each side of the car are rights and lefts and are rigidly secured to a part of the vehicle. In the present instance the skid bars l9 provide a convenient rigid part of the vehicle to which the skid shoes may be at tached.

When the skid shoes are to be attached to the skid bars, each shoe is made to include an L- shaped bracket having vertical flange 32 for engagement with the web of the associated skid bar and a horizontal flange 33 for engagement with the bottom flange of the skid bar. Bolts or rivets 36 pass through said flanges 32-33 of each skid shoe and the web and bottom flange of the associated skid bar l9 to secure each shoe to the skid bar.

Each shoe also includes a web 35 that extends downwardly and outwardly from the junction of the flanges 32 and 33 and the bottom of said web 35 is made as a lateral flange 36. This flange, longitudinally considered, extends upwardly from its lower end toward its higher end. It is also angled, from said lower end to said higher end, so as to extend from a plane spaced laterally outward from the flange 32 at the lower end to a plane substantially coincident with said flange 32 at said higher end. In other words, the flange 35 which provides the skid surface of the shoe has two angles of inclination, one of which is upwardly and forwardly from the lower to the higher end and the other of which is laterally inward from said lower to said higher portion. When the shoes are attached in position on the vehicle, they are disposed directly in back of the flange of the wheels and while the lower ends of the shoes are relatively close to the rail when the vehicle is in motion thereon, the shoes cannot catch upon any obstruction in the track because the flange of said wheels will ride over such obstruction before it can get in the way of said shoes.

In removing a four wheel railway motor vehicle provided with the improved set-off skid construction, from the track, said vehicle is turned crosswise of one of the rails to dispose, say, the rear end wheels ll outside the rail H and leave the front end wheels inside of said rail. At this time the skid rails or bars l9 will engage the top surface of the head of the rail. The car is then slid laterally outward on the skid rails through the balanced position appearing in full lines in Fig. 2, into the over-balanced position shown in dotted lines in said Fig. 2. In this over-balanced position, the rear end wheels engage the ends of the ties or the ballast adjacent thereto and the upper ends of the flanges 36 of the skid shoes, associated with the wheels it engage the rail. At this time the degree of angularity of the surface of the flanges of the shoes, associated with the wheels l8, relative to a horizontal plane, is reduced and so is the height the car has to be raised to pull or move said wheels over the rail.

As the vehicle rests at the point where both the skid shoes and the wheel flanges engage the rail as appears in Fig. 3, the height of the vehicle has to be raised in order to get it over the rail and off the track is equal to the vertical distance between the point where the shoes engage the rails to the lowest point on the flanges of the wheels. This is true regardless of the angularity at which the vehicle is tilted. As that end of the vehicle outside of the rail is dropped or lowered, said height is reduced.

Therefore, the height that the vehicle has to be raised in moving its inner end over said rail is materially reduced and is accomplished easily in one operation.

In replacing the vehicle upon the track, the

.operation above mentioned is reversed. When the vehicle is provided with the two sets or pairs of skid shoes mentioned, either end of the car may be first moved ofl of or onto the track. This avoids the necessity of turning the vehicle end for end to replace it upon the track as would be necessary to make the shoes face in the proper direction if the vehicle had only one pair of suc shoes.

The improved construction is simple; strong; it can be produced inexpensively, and it is efiicient in the use for which it is intended.

While in describing the invention I have referred in detail to the form, arrangement and construction of the parts involved, the same is to be considered only in the illustrative sense so that I do not wish to be limited thereto except as may be specifically set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a railway vehicle having pairs of front and rear rail engaging wheels, and means carried by the vehicle intermediate the pairs of front and rear wheels and including portions inclined to the horizontal and positioned closely adjacent to the associated wheels with the lowermost part of said inclined portions substantially coplanar with a plane tangent to the bottom of said associated wheels and operative when said vehicle is being moved transversely over one of the rails of a railway track for removal therefrom, to engage and skid upwardly upon said rail and raise the associated end of the vehicle with respect to the rail.

2. In combination with a railway vehicle having pairs of front and rear rail engaging wheels, and means carried by the vehicle between the pairs of front and rear wheels and providing a surface sloping upwardly and inwardly from the wheels of one pair toward the wheels of the other pair, said means being positioned adjacent to the associated wheels with the lowermost part of said sloping surfaces substantially coplanar with a plane tangent to the bottom of the associated wheels and operative when said vehicle is being moved transversely over one of the rails of a railway track for removal therefrom, to engage and skid upwardly upon said rail and raise the associated end of the vehicle with respect to the rail.

3. In combination with a railway vehicle having pairs of front and rear rail engaging wheels,

means carried by and extending longitudinally of the vehicle for skidding upon the top surface of a rail of a railway track when said vehicle is being moved transversely over said rail for removal from the track, and devices providing inclined surfaces also carried by said vehicle intermediate said pairs of front and rear wheels and each positioned closely adjacent to an associated wheel with the lowermost part of the inclined surface thereof substantially coplanar with a plane tangent to the bottom of said associated wheel to engage and skid upwardly upon the top surface of the rail and raise the associated end of the vehicle with respect to the rail.

4. In combination with a railway vehicle having pairs of front and rear rail engaging wheels, means carried by and extending longitudinally of the vehicle for skidding upon the top surface of a rail of a railway track when said vehicle is being moved transversely over said rail for removal from the track, and means also carried by said first mentioned means and arranged between the pairs of front and rear wheels and providing a surface sloping upwardly and inwardly from the wheels of one pair toward the wheels of the other pair, said means being positioned closely adjacent to the associated wheels with the lowermost parts of said sloping surfaces substantially coplanar with a plane tangent to the bottom of said associated wheels and operative to engage and skid upwardly upon the top surface of the rail and raise the associated end of the vehicle with respect to the rail.

5. In combination with a railway vehicle having pairs of front and rear flanged rail-engaging wheels, means providing a longitudinal skid bar at each side of the vehicle inwardly of the wheels at the same side of the vehicle, and means carried by each bar longitudinally inward of each wheel and providing an inclined surface positioned closely adjacent the associated wheel with the lowermost part of said inclined surface substantially coplanar with a plane tangent to the bottom of the associated wheel and operative when said vehicle is being moved transversely over one of the rails of a railway track for removal therefrom, to engage and skid upwardly upon said rail to raise the associated end of the vehicle wi 11 respect thereto.

6. In combination with a railway vehicle having pairs of front and rear flanged rail-engaging wheels, means providing a longitudinal skid bar at each side of the vehicle and having an effective portion between the wheels on the same side of the vehicle, and a member fixed to the effective portion of each skid bar longitudinally inward of one wheel on the associated side of the vehicle, and providing an inclined skid surface that is positioned closely adjacent to said one wheel with the lowermost part of said surface substantially coplanar with a plane tangent to the bottom of said one wheel.

7. A set-off skid shoe for use on a wheeled railway vehicle and embodying therein a part adapted to be attached to a portion of the vehicle between the wheels on one side of the vehicle and a second part extending downwardly and laterally from the first part and providing an inclined rail head engaging surface adapted to be positioned closely adjacent to an associated wheel with the lowermost part substantially coplanar with a plane tangent to the bottom of said wheel.

IRVING N. EUSTIS. 

